Stray Dogs
by Bun-Bun.Kaella
Summary: This takes place in an AU similar to the Wolf's Rain universe except for that almost all animals can don human guises. Delvorë is a wolf trying to make his way peacefully through the world when the human hunt him for a hidden soul cairn. Kiba and the others agree to assist him but at a price.


A/N: Hello! Thank you so much for willing to read a fic that takes place in an AU! Kiba and the others do not make an appearance in this chapter I'm sorry, but they will in the next I promise! I had been tossing this idea around for a while and figured "ah what the hell." again thank you for reading, You are all amazing! (I apologize for spelling errors :( )

Disclaimer: alas I do not own the pups or any of the other characters from Wolf's Rain.

Rating: we're gonna go with M for now to be safe.

 _Reunion_.

Delvorë bolted down the streets of his old home. The town long since destroyed was now home to all manner of beasts, there was only one in particular he was looking for though, he knew she was near, he caught her faint scent on the air as he rushed down an alley to follow it.

Flattening himself against an opening on the other side of the old, decrepit restaurant he struggled to control his breathing. His pulse quickened as he heard the whirring of mechanical parts zip by him as the flying machines darted away in an effort to find him.

He listened to the obnoxious sounds grow distant for what seemed like hours but in actuality was only a few minutes. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out of his hiding spot.

"Damn," he murmured. "Her scent was here a moment ago." sniffing in either direction he decided to head left, where he thought he could smell a trace of her scent.

Delvorë was a quiet boy, thick black hair that never seemed to stop growing fluttered as he jerked his head to the right, gold eyes watched a doe move to stand protectively over her newborn, her protective stare dared him to make an attempt to make her child an early dinner. He scoffed and continued walking, there was no need to distract himself with food, the dark blue jeans of his disguise dragged across the ground whenever his hurt leg struggled to make the next step in moving forward. He grunted in pain, glancing down at the gash on his hip. He couldn't afford to stop, not now, he was so close to finding her. He had searched all year, and now, deep into the winter months, he had finally caught up with her. He shivered and pulled his grey sweater closer to his body, grumbling to no body in particular about the colder months he had to endure just to see an old friend.

He meandered down the decrepit city of Tulsa Oklahoma, his old home. Quickly after humans had discovered they were not the only intelligent species they waged war, Delvorë scoffed, it hadn't surprised anyone to learn that a humans knee jerk reaction to anything foreign was to send it straight to hell, but then again, given the human history, it had proved itself true time and time again.

After animals were able to disguise themselves as humans, after the humans realized they had already begun acclimating themselves to live with humans as a survival tactic, after the worlds leaders struck fear into the hearts of their people, a world war began. Humans against nature, for the first time in history every race, every army, every human of the world banded together to face their oncoming threat, but it wasn't hard to figure out who would win. One side had nuclear bombs, the other did not.

The War Against Nature had taken place nearly 500 years ago. Now, there were few cities left that humans inhabited, those cities either restricted access as humans only, such as the capitol - Fukushiga - or allowed certain species of animals inside, even with animal species finally being allowed inside city limits, they were still often hunted and killed for sport.

Wolves were never allowed within city limits.

Most of the cities left on Earth looked like this one, buildings were destroyed and overrun by nature, making it perfect for animals to inhabit.

There were still animals running about that had not been born with the ability to disguise themselves as humans. Some mammalia, but the vast majority was aquatic species. They had refused to teach their young to disguise themselves, preferring to remain under the surface, their logic being that it was less trouble than mixing themselves with humans.

Delvorë scoffed, he couldn't agree more with that thought process.

Delvorë was a wolf; well, sort of. He was human for as long as he could remember, and then one day, around the age of 12, with no warning or understanding, he could suddenly change. Just like the natural animals could disguise themselves as human, he suddenly could too.

He had enjoyed being a human, his entire family being human, living in Fukushiga was wonderful, all of the cultures of the old world has mixed into one city and it was breath taking. But once the authorities discovered his existence, they hunted him down like a hungry fox that had sunk its jaws into the wrong chicken.

His family attempted to hide him for as long as they could but he was quickly discovered, once they realized the authorities would put him down on sight they quickly smuggled him out of the city, leaving him in the care of a family friend.

Delvorë was snapped back to reality by the sound of boots, he ran down the alley and deftly leapt up, into the roof of the building next to him. He peeked over the edge to see soldiers on the ground, talking with the flying scouts, he scowled. 'Shit!' Delvorë quickly abandoned his hiding spot and bolted, he easily leapt across rooftops as he heard the sound of the scouts giving chase behind him. The foot soldiers were no match for his speed, neither were the drones, but the drones could get close, and that was all they needed for the small automated guns mounted on the bottoms of their round casings.

Delvorë spun on his heel, and jumped across the alley to the next building over, he cursed himself, he was loosing too much blood, he couldn't make the jump was and his foot slipped. He braced himself as his back collided with the ground. Delvorë groaned and rolled over, revealing his true form as the foot soldiers surrounded him, gold eyes narrowed and his pitch black fur stood on end. He bared his teeth and growled, knowing full well there was no way out of this, there was at least 12 automatic rifles pointed at him, his vision was blurring due to blood loss, and he was backed into a corner. He wasn't willing to give up without a fight though.

Just as he was about to hurl himself at the biggest man in the middle, a whip of red light lashed out from the corner, instantly rendering the soldiers deceased. Delvorës eyes widened, there was only one person he knew that could control light.

He snapped his head towards the direction where the source of light had emanated from. Out of the shadows a girl stepped, she was calm when she looked upon the wolf. A small smile formed on her lips as she bent down to greet the stunned canine.

"I've missed you." her voice rang through the still air. Delvorës fur flattened and he slowly walked towards her. "Vëlorâ..?" he whispered, he staggered into her arma the girls smile widened and she sunk her fingers into his warm, soft fur. The wolf pushed his head into her arms and she held him. Delvorë collapsed, blood seeping from his hip, he had no strength to assume his guise. The girl stroked his inky black fur and murmured words of comfort.

Vëlorâ was his best friend, his beloved, and a complete stranger.

Delvorë had met her two months prior to his current situation, after his cousin lost a fight to a grizzly bear, he had simply run into her, bloody and broken he collapsed at her feet. He expected the mysterious woman to simply turn and walk away, but she faced the advancing grizzly head on.

 _Delvorë bounded through the stream, feeling the cold water soak his legs, he was happy._

 _In front of him his cousin, Kouson, bolted after their kill, a bull elk. The power that rippled underneath his brown fur made Delvorë happy that he had decided to join him on this hunt_

 _Kouson flicked his tail indicating that the black one to run to flank the elk on his left side. Delvorë knew what this was, the final step in his training as a wolf. Kouson would veer far right and chase the elk into his cousins waiting jaws._

 _Delvorë veered off to the left, the thrill of his first kill forcing his limbs to move faster and faster. He could hear Kousons paw steps receding far off to the right._

 _His gold eyes flicked over to the right, watching as the elk moved closer and closer in its panic stricken flight. He struggled to get away from the jaws snapping at his ankles._

 _And then it was over._

 _From the trees, directly in front of them a grizzly, as tall as a house, reared back onto its hind paws and slapped the elk onto the ground. Proceeding to reach down and tear the screaming creatures head off with its massive jaws._

 _"RUN!" Kouson snapped his jaws at Delvorës ear and immediately they bolted. He could hear the grizzly crashing behind them, panic fueled adrenaline coursed through his veins as he desperately tried to get away from impending doom._

 _The two veered to the right, heading toward the edge of the forest. They leapt across fallen trees and weaved through ones still standing._

 _The crashing was getting louder, the treeline couldn't be any further away._

 _"Keep running!" Kouson snarled, all Delvorë could do was run, panic making the leaves crunching beneath his paws so much_

 _Louder, the treeline never seemed to get any closer, and he could feel the bloodthirsty bears breath on his heels._

 _He burst through the treeline, coming to a screeching stop and spinning around, where was Kouson? Where was the bear?_

 _After a few tense moments Delvorë watched the giant come lumber out of the trees, and at his paws he dropped the limp body of his cousin. Delvorë stood, terror freezing his blood solid, his limbs refused to listen to his will though his mind screamed at him to run as fast as he could._

 _Kousons body lay on the ground lifeless. Deep wounds across his neck poured blood onto the grass, eyes still wide with rage, his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Delvorë felt his legs start shaking as the bear made its advance toward him._

 _He couldn't move in time to dodge the bears attack and it swatted him across the field. Delvorë felt his body scrape across a gravel road, producing cuts all over his body. He struggled to stand as the beast ran towards him to finish what it had started. Panting, he limped away as fast as his shaking limbs would allow him, but the bear was clearly faster. He felt thick, sharp teeth sink into his back and felt the creature fling him through the air. The bear was toying with him. He heard his back right leg snap as it collided with the ground and he howled in agony. Adrenaline and fear forced him to stand and he attempted To limp away again._

 _Then out of no where a girl appeared in front of him, he quickly staggered over to her; hoping beyond hope that she would either end his misery, or save him._

 _He collapsed at her feet, panting, and his coat soaked with his hot, sticky blood. She looked down at him, then directed her attention back to the bear quickly advancing towards the two, enraged at the thought of his kill being stolen._

 _Delvorë slipped out of consciousness as her magical whip slashed the bears throat open_

When he met her she had black hair, the sides braided back to stay out of her face, laced with silver strands it flowed to the middle of her back. She wore all black, a band of cloth around her chest, cuffs around her biceps and wrists, riding breeches with a silver sash tied around her waist, and boots that came up just above her calves. She wore a thick brown cloak, with bear skin wrapped around her shoulders. It was an heirloom of her family that served to keep her human guise warm, she rarely parted with it. Her piercing blue eyes offered kindness to any animal she met, even during her hunts she showed mercy. But given the chance, she would gladly strike down a human.

Nothing had changed.

Vëlorâs gaze flicked up to the drones as they descended towards the pair in an attempt to pacify the threat. She quickly pointed her index and middle finger together to form her poison light whip, disposing of the machines in mere seconds.

Delvorë whimpered, attempting to stand so as to move to a safer spot than the middle of a street; humans were always looking for a reason to use their guns.

Vëlorâ quickly shushed the injured wolf, a quick scan of her surroundings revealed nothing that would miss their absence.

Vëlorâ stroked the wolfs ears, her fingers illuminated a dull blue light, Delvorë whimpered a final time before his eyes slid shut and his mind went dark.

Soooooo that was the first part. Don't worry! Our favorite wolves will make an appearance in the next chapter as promised. How long until then... Don't ask me such questions... I struggled with motivation on a daily.


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